It happened on Sunday, so it's obviously the appropriate time to talk about
the 2014 class, a mere four days later.

Let's disqualify, for the moment, those who have been on the ballot and
didn't make it last time around. It was a relatively weak class that went in
Sunday, so those that didn't make the cut, don't have a great argument for
enshrinement a year later.

Also, for the sake of the discussion, we shall focus on the NBA players, not
foreigners, women, officials or dignitaries. Honestly, I can't state with any
level of expertise why or why not any of them belong in the Hall.

Let's look at the newly eligible.

Any good cook knows you have to trim the fat when you butcher the meat
(friendly tip from Iron Chef Brighters: don't always do that because fat can
lead to flavor).

The fat, in this case is Damon Stoudamire, Bo Outlaw, P.J. Brown, Eddie Jones,
Steve Francis, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Sam Cassell. Some have better claims
than others in that group, some (sorry, Bo) have no claim, but no matter what,
none of these players deserves realistic consideration.

That leaves us with four new candidates open for debate.

CHRIS WEBBER

The man who is still probably most famous for the phantom timeout in the NCAA
Championship had an incredibly productive professional career.

Webber's 15-year career may not have put him in a mortal lock category for the
Hall of Fame, but he deserves to go.

He averaged 20.7 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game over his career.
Those first two numbers are very good and the assists number for a big man is
very, very good.

Webber made five All-Star games and five All-NBA teams, including one first
team, and finished in the top 10 in MVP voting five times. In a 15-year career,
that doesn't look sterling, but you have to delve a little deeper.

Webber played in the era of Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki at the
power forward spot. Those three are all-time greats, and, no, Webber is not one
for the ages, but to rattle off those accomplishments, five times is not a
joke. With incredibly stiff competition, Webber distinguished himself.

He led the renaissance in Sacramento basketball and, sure, those Kings teams
probably could've played in at least one NBA Finals to cement Webber's legacy,
but the San Antonio Spurs were a dynasty and the Los Angeles Lakers were close
to one.

These aren't brought up as excuses to justify Webber's small number of
appearances in laudatory devices. Nor is his injury history. It's just to
showcase that Webber may not have been immortal, but he was awfully good and
made the postseason 10 times. In most of those trips, he was the best player
on the team.

Webber had a great amateur career, marred not just by an ill-fated crossing of
his hands in a "T" formation, but also by a plea arrangement for lying to a
grand jury about taking money while in college.

There are plenty of bad guys in the Hall of Fame.

It all adds up to enough. Webber's the type of guy who voters might make wait
a year.

ALONZO MOURNING

Full disclosure - in researching Mourning's case, early on, it seemed like an
easy yes.

For the first eight seasons of his career, Mourning averaged 20.9 ppg, 10.1
rpg and 3.1 blocked shots per game, which is a towering number (his career
numbers are lower thanks to stints as a bench player).

During that time, Mourning made five All-Star games (he made two more after he
was a freak of nature force), All-NBA twice, including a first-team nod, and
All-Defensive first team twice, and won Defensive Player of the Year in back-
to-back years. Those two years, Mourning finished second and third in MVP
voting.

That's pretty awesome.

Is eight years enough to make the Hall of Fame? Probably not, although his
ninth and 10th seasons were strong, just not epic.

Throw in the NBA championship, an Olympic gold medal and being a three-time
All-American at Georgetown, it's enough for Mourning.

Again, much like Webber, he's no gimme. He was great, but never dominant short
of those two seasons. Mourning might not get first-ballot love, but he's a
Hall of Famer.

ANFERNEE HARDAWAY

If you didn't buy Mourning's argument with a small, early sample size, you
might as well scroll down now.

After bursting on the NBA scene with comparisons to Magic Johnson in one hand,
and Chris Rock commercials in the other, Hardaway played basically nine true
full seasons due to a myriad of injuries.

In the first six healthy seasons, Lil Penny had averages of 18.6 ppg, 6.1 apg
and 1.9 steals per game. Hardaway made four All-Star teams and three All-NBA
teams, including two first-team nods, and had two top-10 finishes in MVP
voting.

Hardaway's career flew out of the gate, but his knee halted it quickly.

The body of work just isn't there for Penny to make the Hall of Fame.

ROBERT HORRY

He didn't make a single All-Star team. Never got a vote for MVP, nor did he
ever sniff an All-NBA team.

So why is Horry under Hall of Fame consideration?

There are six players in the history of the sport who have won more NBA
titles than Horry's seven. All six are in the Hall of Fame (to be fair, Tom
"Satch" Sanders is in as a contributor, not a player). In fact, Horry and Jim
Loscutoff are the only players with at least six titles not in the Hall of
Fame.

Horry was a critical member of each of those championship squads. You don't
get the moniker "Big Shot" Bob for being a mop-up guy at the end of the bench.
Horry hit several humongous 3-point shots during his tenure with the Lakers
and Spurs (he was in his first two seasons when the Houston Rockets won, but
Horry started for both teams).

Is that enough?

Probably not, but it's a fun debate. If winning is the true barometer of
greatness, then Horry merits a conversation. Was he as important as Hakeem
Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal or Tim Duncan? Duh, of
course not, but he was a top-five contributor.

Problem for Horry is precedent.

Loscutoff was a member of Bill Russell's 1960s Boston Celtics teams. He was
not a huge star and his seven rings weren't enough to warrant selection.

Guys like Michael Cooper and Kurt Rambis from the Showtime Lakers aren't in
the Hall. Neither are Ron Harper or Steve Kerr from more modern times. Role
players, no matter how many big shots drained, are not welcome.

And Horry was a role player with a knack for the moment. Sorry, Big Shot.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

- In my research, here a few names I think are Hall-worthy, remembering the
Naismith Hall of Fame is all-encompassing: Toni Kukoc and Vlade Divac
(foreign), Christian Laettner (best college player I've ever seen), and Mitch
Richmond and Kevin Johnson as NBA players.

- Michael Beasley frustrates me so. He has squandered so much money with his
off-court nonsense. This one-year contract with the Miami Heat is wise for the
defending champions because the upside is LeBron James and Pat Riley can keep
him in check and he scores. The downside is he acts up and gets cut 10 seconds
later and his NBA career becomes a punch line.

- I don't care what Dennis Rodman does in North Korea. Stay if you love it so
much.

- Movie moment - Looking forward to "The Family" with Robert De Niro. It takes
a big man to reinvent himself late in his career and De Niro is doing just
that by playing a mobster. I say "Bravo!"

- TV moment - I am no expert on the business of television. Sure, I know a few
things about some shows, but have no idea how to improve ratings, especially
in morning television as my viewing habits revolve around Sprout. However, if
I was attempting to gain viewers for my network's morning show, which was No.
1 in the ratings since the Second Continental Congress and recently passed by
another show, I would not bring in Carson Daly. Good Luck, "Today Show."